Hospital bed attachment



Jul 12, 1932.

l. BIRMAN 1,866,696

HOSPITAL BED ATTACHMENT Filed July 2. 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

ASIOOE BIEMfl/V 7 BY I 5* ATTORNEY.

July 12, 1932. B|RMAN hg fi HOSPITAL BED" ATTACHMENT Filed July 2. 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 8 r A9 I mVENmR. I 25 magi? BIRMfi/V BY fim ATTORNEY.

July 12, 1932. I. BIRMAN v 1,866,696

HOSPITAL BED ATTACHMENT Filed Jizly 2, 1930 s Sheets-Sheet 5 n v .15. 2 E g-Q Z? /9 z 5 L I h /5 A5 /7 m: 5 g Y 20 l "W. Z

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Patented July 12, 1932 UNITED STATES ISIDOR BIRMAN, F PEEKSKILL; NEW YORK HOSPITAL BED ATTACHMENT Application. filed July 2,.1930. SerialNo. 465,327.

This invention relates to hospital beds and has for an object to provide a device which when attached to an ordinary bed enables an attendant to adjust the position of an occupant of the bed in a manner comparable with that afforded in the present, standard, adjustable hospital bed.

A further object of the invention is to afford means for either tilting or elevating some portion of the occupant or for tilting the bed as a whole. The particular instrumentality herein shown in the illustrative example of my invention for permitting the attendant to either raise some portion of the occupant of the bed or to tilt the bed as a whole and with it the entire body of the occupant, is a pair of vertically reciprocatory bars attached to the sides of the bedstead and furnished at their upper ends with a sling for supporting and raising some portion of the occupant and furnished at their lower ends with means for engaging the floor. Upon raising the bars above a normal, neutral position the sling is raised and upon lowering the bars below such position the portion of the bedstead to which the bars are attached is raised. When tilting the bedstead the contemplated point of attachment will be toward one end and beyond the center of the side rails, and that end of the bedstead will rise,

the feet at the other end remaining inplace on the floor.

The sling may be employed in several ways and is preferably formed of material best suited to its intended use. In fact a set of interchangeable slings are furnished with each attachment. For more or less intimate 'engagement with the body of the occupant the sling is preferably formed of some flexible 0 material such as canvas webbing. When the sling is intended to be placed under the mattress of the bed, for raising the occupants head and shoulders for instance and support ing him in such position, the sling is made of some more rigid though flexible material such as sheet metal. The slings are also made in various widths, the under the mat-' tress type preferably being wide.

In the accompanying drawings one practicable embodiment of my invention is illustrated as applied to an ordinary, metal bedstead. In which drawings: Figure 1 shows inside elevation a bedstead having attached to it my-improved device which isillustrated in one of its applications to the occupant of the bed, namely raising the hip position o'f'the occupants body.

Fig. 2 illustrates the manner of employing the device for tilting the bedstead, shown in side elevation.

Fig. 3 is a View looking down on Fig. 2. Fig. 4 shows a cross-sectional viewof Fig. 2 taken at about the plane of the line 44 looking toward the head board of the bedstea Fig. 5 is a detail similar to Fig.4 showing the bedstead tilted into one of the dotted line positions of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional View at'about the plane of the line 6 6 of Fig. l, the representation of the'occupant being omitted. Fig. 7 IS a side elevation illustrating the manner of raising the head portion of the mattress by means of a sling placedbelow it. Fig. 8 is a detail view looking down on the sling in Fig. 7 and Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional View of Fig. 8 at about the plane of the line 9--9, of said figure.

My improved device, in the preferred form herein illustrated, is primarily designed for attachment to an ordinary metal bedstead. The illustrated bedstead comprises: a part 10 which maybe termedahead board, and which is formed with feet 11 for resting upon the floor, the floor surface being represented by the line designated by the reference character 12; a foot board 13, similarly formed with feet 14; and apair of longitudinally disposed side rails 15, interconnecting the head board and the foot board. Upon these rails the framelG of the wire mattress normally rests, and the hair mattress 17 is placedupon this woven wire mattress 18. So much for the bedstead and the bed. 1 My devic'eis constructed and adapted for attachment to some selected portion along the length of the side rails; in fact my invention is that it may be shifted from place to place along these side rails in the treat ment and ministrations which the attendant furnishes the patient occupying the bed. In the illustrative example the device is suspended or located beneath the side rails, and comprises a frame-work and housing such frame-work preferably consisting of a stiff sheet metal body portion! 19 which is provided with holes for receiving U-shaped clamps 20 which extend around the side rails 15. IVhen the nuts 21 are screwed. up on these clamps this framing member is brought directly against the under side of the side rails.

Each end of the framing member is bent downwardly andinwardly forming a housing 22, such housing being provided with openings for steadying and guiding, vertically movable rack bars 23, suclr rack bars normally extending above and. below the side rails. Within. each housing there is shown mounted a worm pinion.,24, such pinion being enmeshed with the associated rack bar. Thepinion is formed on. its. upper portion with a. miter gear 25 which is enmeshed with a miter gear 26, the miter gear 26 being mounted fast upon a shaft 27 which is. suitably journaled in both of the housings 22, one; end of the shaft 27 carying a hand crank 28.. A set. screw 29 is provided for permitting the release of the handle so that it may be gotten. out of the way of the attendant when not in use.

The lower ends of the rack bars 23. are rigidly connected by means of a tiebeam 30.

' In the present illustration the rack bars and tie beam are formed from a single piece of T-shaped metal and the teeth of the rack are cut into the stem or web-portion of the blank. A pair of floor engaging feet 31 are shown pivoted to the tie beam 30 and are so constructed that they may be placed in the; floor engaging, position. or-turned out of such position and held in idleposition. For this purpose the feet 31 are connected by abar 32 S which has pivoted to it one of the pivots as 33' also carrying a link 34 furnished: with. a slot 35 for the engagement of a stud screw 36 which is carried by the end' of the beam 30 and on which runs a set nut 37.

The slot 35 is provided at its ends with angularly disposed openings 38 for engaging the stud and securely holding the link and by its means the feet in-either of the positions of adjustment. In Figs; 2, 4 and 5 the feet areshown in the floor engaging position,.and in Figs. 1, (Stand-7 the feet areshown in their housed or idleposition.

With the feet in their floor engaging position rotation of the-wonnpinionsinthe proper direction for lowering the rack bars, and with them the beam: 30 causes the feet to engage: the floor and further movement raises the side rails of the bedstead, Figs. 2, 4 and 5 illustrating this movement. This is for the purpose of tilting the entire structure and raising one or the other ends of the bed for tilting the position of its occupant. The upper ends of the rack bars 23 are provided with means 40, interchangeably carrying slings, for moving the patient in relation to the bedstead. l/Vhen it is desired to move some portion of the patient, as for instance the portion of the body as in Fig. 1, a yieldable and flexible sling 41 may be employed. This sling'in the present instance is shown as formed of canvas and secured at its ends to-head pieces 42. In the present illustration the securing means carried by the rack bars are pins passing through suitable openings inthe topof the rack bar.. These pins 40' are, in the present illustration, caused. to pass through openings in webs 43 formed at the ends of the heads 42. The pins may in practice be" furnished with set nuts 44.

When the sling such as 41 is employed for raising some portion of the patient, as for instance in the manner illustrated in Fig. 1, and. which is carried out in further detail in Fig. 6, the attendant, after passing the sling under the patient or under the sheets if preferred, according to the purpose for which the patient is raised, operation of the crank causes the raising of the rackbars. and consequently the raising of the sling in relation, tothe side bars of the bedstead. In other treatments or adjustments of the patient it may be desirable to raise the bedding or the stuffed mattress from the wire mattress, in. which case the sling as 45 is preffer. bly much wider than is the sling. 41 and is preferably formed from some resilient metaL In Figs. 7, 8 and 9' this application of the attachment is illustrated. The slingv 45 is shown located below the stuffed mattress and raising the head portion thereof,.either raising the head of the patient or bringing him into a sitting position. The ends of the sling may to. advantage be connected to the holding means40 by means of coiled springs 46.

This attachment is for the purpose of permitting an. attendant in ministering to the patient occupying the bed to raise some portion of the patients body. It may be effected only byraising some portion or may have. the net effect of tilting the entire body, but in all events-the major purpose is raising some. portion of the. body. This raisingis effected either by raising one end of the-bed permitting the feet at the other end to remain upon the floor which tilts the bedstead and falso tiltstheoccupant, or some portion of the occupant may be raised relatively to the bedstead either by direct application of thesling 41. to the patient or by placing the sling 45 beneath the stuffed. mattress.

It is to be observed that the organization of the. various parts of the apparatus, when applied to a. bedstead,.lends itselfreadily to the specific work which it is intended to accomplish. For example, the upwardly and downwardly movable members, which are located outwardly of the side rails, are supported by the U-shaped members which engage with the upper sides of the side rails in order to suspend the framework and to clamp it against the under sides of said rails. In the lighter work of merely supporting or raising and lowering some portion of the body of the occupant, the load imposed upon the sling is carried by the U-shaped members engaging with the upper sides of said side rails,rwhile in the heavier operation of raising and tilting the entire bedstead and its occupant the load is carried in a more substantial manner by the engagement of said framework with the under sides of the side rails and thereby positively raising the bedstead and its 00-- cupant.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. As an article of manufacture, a hospital bed attachment comprising a framework and means for adjustably attaching it to a bedstead, the frame-work being fashioned at its respective ends to form housings and guideways, bars mounted for reciprocation in such guideways, a sling mounted on the bars at one side of the housings, and floor engaging feet mounted on the bars at the other side of the, housings, and means located in and upon the housings for reciprocating the bars.

2. A bedstead attachment, comprising a pair of housings and means for suspending these from the side rails of a bedstead and a worm pinion mounted in each of the housings, a rack bar meshing with each pinion, the housings being formed with guides for sustaining the rack bars in substantially vertical positions, and for holding them in mesh with the pinions, means for rotating the pinions in unison for effecting the concurrent reciprocation of the rack bars, a cross beam connected to the lower ends of the rack bars, a floor engaging member mounted on the cross beam and adapted to be moved into and out of operative position, the upper ends of the rack bars being furnished with means for raising some portion of an occupant of the bed above the side rails upon'the elevation of the rack bars, the entire organization being for the purpose of adjusting the level of the occupant of the bed or of some portion of his body.

3. The combination with a pair of housings and means for clamping these in selected positions upon the side rails of a bedstead, a worm pinion mounted in each of the housings, a rack bar meshing with each pinion, the housings being formed with guides for sustaining the rack bars in substantially vertical positions and for holding them in mesh with the )inions, the rack bars being adapted to extend above and below the side rails of the bedstead, means for rotating the pinions in unison for effecting the concurrent reciprocation of the rack bars, floor engaging means carried by the lower ends of the rack ing the same against the under sides of said side rails, a member mounted on said framework at each side of the bedstead for upward and downward movement, means for simultaneously moving said members, a sling carried above the bedstead by said members for supporting and/or raising some portion of,

the body of the occupant, and a floor engaging device carried below the bedstead by said members; the organization being such that in the lighter operation of raising and supporting some portion of the body of the oc cupant, the framework is supported by said suspended clamping means, and in the heavier operation of raising and tilting the bedstead together with its occupant, the bedstead is raised by the positive pressure exerted by the framework against the under sides of said side rails.

Signed at the city of New York, in the county and State of New York, this 23rd day of June, 1930.

ISIDOR BIRMAN. 

